About Me

gary@garylindstrom.com
METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE
RED ROCKS COMMUNITY COLLEGE
COLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE ADJUNCT FACULTY
● Teach Criminal Justice, Political Science, American History I and II, Sociology I and II, Twentieth Century World History, Ethics, Social Psychology, Comparative Government, Contemporary Social Problems,Public Speaking, Sociology of Criminology, Group Communication, Conflict Resolution, Effective Presentations and American Government.
● Fifth largest Community College in the United States with 20,000 students
COLORADO STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2004-2007
●Elected State Representative.
●Served as Vice Chairman of Local Government, member of House Transportation Committee and Transportation Legislative Review Committee.
SUMMIT COUNTY COMMISSIONER 1995-2004
●In charge of 500 employees and a budget in excess of $20 million with an emphasis on land use and new construction.
●Built three new libraries, county commons, animal control, county communications center, fire training center, senior center, community center, state patrol office, involved in the approval and planning of the new hospital and medical office building.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Consider This for February 25, 2008—Never, ever hit a woman or a child

“Domestic violence is about control and power.”

Just ask yourself, “Who speaks for the abused and dead women and children? Who speaks for the victims of domestic violence once they are gone?”

A man who would hit a woman is not a man. The person who would do that is a coward. The person who would do that is a spineless being without any regard for himself or anyone else.

When I was a police officer the absolute worst thing I have ever seen is a child who had been beaten by her father until she died. One of the second worst crimes I have ever seen is a woman who died after being assaulted by an out of control man. There is no excuse for either.

In prison there is a pecking order for prisoners. The prisoner who is at the greatest risk of being killed by the other inmates is a child molester or abuser.

Number two on the list of most hated inmate is a rapist. A man who is unable to have a normal relationship with a woman. A man who believes that the only way he can have a relationship with a woman is by force.

The way the system deals with most of these cases is to put the child molesters and rapists in segregated confinement. They are put in areas away from the general population so they will be relatively safe. I say relatively safe because many end up being killed anyway. Most of the time the killer is already sentenced to life imprisonment so what do they have to lose?

My personal theory is that 98% of the people on this planet are normal. Two percent of the people are either sociopaths or psychopaths and have yet to figure out the difference between right and wrong.

This brings me back to my original point. A man who would ever hit a woman or hit a child does not know the difference between right and wrong.

It almost gets to the point where I don’t want to watch television news anymore. Almost every night in Colorado there is a report of a husband who has killed his wife or a child who has died at the hands of the “boyfriend” who was watching the child while mom was at work

People who write about codependency will tell you that the dead wife or the mother of the child believed that the man who committed the crime was the only man in her life who had ever loved her. She felt that the beatings that she or her child suffered was the price they paid to keep him happy and staying in the house. What a high price to pay.

In my experience it was always so very difficult to convince the woman in that situation to ever leave the man or for that matter to even file charges against him. There was a terrible fear of the potential to lose that relationship that the woman was willing to do just about anything to keep him.

I do think that there is something that we can all do about this problem. We all need to commit to call the police or sheriff if we have any indication that there is any spousal abuse or child abuse going on in a home. If we see a child or a woman with an injury that might have been a result of a man hitting them then report it to the authorities. If there is a logical reason for the injury then the authorities can sort that out. You will have done your duty.

If you saw your neighbor breaking out the headlights of a car in the parking lot you would call the police. If you see your neighbor punching out his wife then you should call the police. The next time the victim might be you or your child.

Just remember that the person committing the crime is a coward and a spineless creature that probably does not deserve to be out here with the rest of civilized society. It is about control and power and some men are willing to kill to get it.